It's A Hey Arnold Life
by Just4FunFiction
Summary: After a spat with Arnold, Helga finds herself alone in the park, regretting how she treated him. But can a stranger help her to forgive herself?


It was a cold, winter's day in Hillwood. Christmas was fast approaching, with a light sprinkling of snow falling down from the clouds, covering the roads and streets like icing sugar on a cake. There was still a week before school broke up for the winter holidays, so everyone was always anxious for the school day to reach its end, so they could play in the snow with their friends, having snowball fights, going sledding and ice skating, building snowmen and snow angels.

As they sat in their classroom, the students of PS 118 weren't really focused on the lesson that Mr Simmons was leading them through. They were mostly fixated on the clock as it ticked and tocked, the clock reading '14:59'. As the final seconds passed on, they graced themselves excitedly.

"And so, if you want to find the lowest common multiple-" Mr Simmons was cut off in his lecture by the sound of the bell ringing, followed by the subsequent cheers from everyone inside. "Oh my, look at that! Alright class, that's it for the day! Enjoy your afternoon, and I'll see you all tomorrow morning! Class dismissed!"

Everyone eagerly gathered their stuff and headed for the lockers. As she walked through the hallway with Phoebe, Helga was eager to get out. Since Olga was at home, her parents would be focused on her and they wouldn't notice that she wasn't there.

'No different than usual, then,' she thought, opening up her locker. "So, Pheebs, you up for sledding?" she asked her friend.

"That sounds great, Helga," her glasses-wearing friend replied, "but I agreed to go ice skating with Gerald."

Helga smirked. "Tall Hair Boy ask you out, huh?" Phoebe blushed, giving a nod. "Well, good for you! Don't worry about it, I'll see if someone else is free."

"I'm sure if you asked Arnold, he would go with you." Helga frowned at hearing this. "What? I thought things were great with you two after San Lorenzo?"

"Well… I mean, things are better, but I still don't know fully how he feels. I don't want to push him too much, or I might end up pushing him away."

"I'm sure that wouldn't happen, Helga. You've known him for six years now, he wouldn't want that anymore than you would."

"I guess." She closed her locker. "Kay, so I'll see you tomorrow, Pheebs."

"Bye, Helga!"

Helga started to walk towards the exit, putting a pink woollen scarf around her neck. As she neared the door, however, she heard boisterous laughter directed towards her. Looking towards the culprit, that being Harold, she scowled. "What are you laughing at, Pink Boy?"

"Nice scarf, Helga! Are you afraid of the cold?" He taunted, grinning widely. "Is little baby Helga afraid to go outside without her scarf?"

"Watch your mouth," she warned, raising a fist up as she felt her anger building up, "or you might end up needing something to wrap up the bump I leave on your head!"

"Ooh, I'm so scared!" He waved his arms in the air, feigning fear. "Are you gonna hit me, Helga? Oh wait, you're not, because Ahnold wouldn't like that!" Her eye started to twitch. "Ahnold wouldn't like it if you started to hit people!"

He started to laugh boisterously, and Helga felt her patience wearing thin. However, she didn't get the chance to unleash it.

"Hey!" They looked towards the voice, which belonged to Arnold. "Harold, that's enough! It's not right of you to say that, so just leave her alone!"

Harold just laughed louder. "Looks like Helga needs her little boyfriend Ahnold to save her!"

His laughs echoed as he left the school. Arnold shook his head as he watched the bully walk away, before turning to Helga. "Are you okay, Helga?"

"Don't 'Helga' me, bucko!" she snapped, causing him to recoil. "What was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you interfere, Arnoldo?! I don't need you interfering in my business!"

"Well, it just seemed like you were getting quite angry. I didn't want you to do something you might… well…"

"Oh. I see. You think big bad Helga was gonna wallop the fat pig."

"That's not what I-"

"Well, you're wrong, Football Head!"

He ducked his head. "I'm sorry, Helga. I just thought-"

"Well, think for yourself! Criminy, I don't need you thinking for me, I can do that myself!"

She stormed off, ignoring his calls for her to come back. She quickly exited the school, and as the winter winds picked up, she made her way towards the park. The wind threw the falling snow in her direction, little flakes of water falling on her scowling face. She ignored any looks that were thrown her way- at that time, her only wish was to get to the park as quickly as possible. She could feel it getting a bit colder, despite the gloves, scarf and hat she was wearing, but still she pushed forward.

When she arrived at the park, she stopped by the entrance, glancing in. There were a lot of people having fun- families sledding down the hill, friends throwing snowballs at one another. All things she had done in her life, and all things that she didn't feel up to doing in that moment. Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she walked through the park, drowning out the sounds of laughter and instead focusing on the sound of the wind that blew through her hair and against her cheeks, causing them to redden from the cold. She soon reached a bridge, and stopped to lean against the side, looking down to the pond that ran beneath. It wasn't cold enough to freeze the water, but one look into the dark liquid made it clear that it would not be pleasant to end up in it.

'Cold,' she thought to herself, letting out a silent laugh, 'sounds familiar. Kind of like how I am to everyone I've ever met. No matter how kind they are, I always find a way and a reason to push them away. That's why I'm stood here, surrounded by people having the time of their lives, while I'm all alone.' She placed her elbows on the side and buried her head in her hands. 'Why can't I ever just be nice to people? I thought I was past hiding my feelings, especially with Arnold… apparently not. If only I could just-'

"'Scuse me, coming through!" she heard a voice call out. She turned just in time to see a cleaning trolley head right towards her and accidentally hit her. The impact caused her to topple over the edge, screaming as she fell into the pond below. The cold provided a huge shock as she resurfaced, gasping for air. She struggled to swim to the edge of the pond with the excess weight of her now thoroughly soaked clothes. Fortunately, a nearby couple saw the accident, so the man leapt in and pulled her out. She was shivering wildly, wrapping her arms around herself, teeth chattering and eyes wide from the shock. As a crowd started to gather, the cleaning cart started to push through, stopping when the woman pushing it was close to the front. "Oh, my goodness, I am so sorry! Is she okay?" Helga wanted to retort, but the cold made that near impossible for her, so all she could do was shiver. "We need to get her somewhere warm. Bring her with me, I have a fire in the cleaner's shack."

So, the man followed her, carrying Helga with him. They reached the wooden shack and sat her down inside, removing the outer layers of wet clothing and hanging them by the fireplace, before wrapping a warm towel around her. Lighting the fire, the cleaner turned to the man.

"She should warm up within a few minutes," the cleaner explained, "but her clothes will take a bit longer to dry. In the meantime, I'll fix her some hot cocoa to get her energy back. If she looks like she's getting sick, I'll call for an ambulance."

"Okay," the man replied, "I wish I could help more, but I need to get back to my wife." He removed his coat and his sweater. "If her clothes don't dry quickly enough, she can use this, although it's probably too big."

"That's very kind of you, sir," she accepted the sweater and hung it up, so it would stay warm. "Okay. Now, don't worry. This sadly isn't the first time I've accidentally knocked someone into the pond, but I know how to help her recover."

"Alright. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."

He turned to Helga and gave a small wave. "Merry Christmas, miss."

While she was still too cold to string a sentence together, she gave him a weak smile and a nod, to return the sentiment before he left. Helga tried to get to her feet, but the cleaner placed a hand on her shoulders to sit her back down.

"Don't move anywhere," she suggested, "it's important that we get your body temperature up to normal. I'll get you something to drink, just sit there and keep warm."

Helga reluctantly did as she was told, glancing towards the fire with her palms facing it. 'Well, this just about sums up how my day's going,' she thought to herself. 'While I wouldn't have guessed this would happen, I pretty much deserve it for how I acted earlier.' A small smile graced her lips. 'Still, it's more care than I would have received at home. They're all probably gathered around the piano, listening to Olga play that dumb piano.'

Within about fifteen minutes, Helga felt her warmth had sufficiently returned. She stood up, garnering the attention of the cleaner, who gave a soft smile. "It looks like you've warmed up a bit!" she spoke cheerily. Helga turned to her as she finished preparing two mugs of hot cocoa with marshmallows. "I don't think your clothes will be fully warm yet, so you should probably stay here until they do."

Helga looked at her, then at the mug that was presented to her, then back to the cleaner. "Uh, thanks, I guess." As she took the mug and took a sip, she smiled as the sweet cocoa-y goodness filled her throat, warmth growing from within. She let out an 'mmm' as she sighed, sitting back down. The older woman smiled at this, taking a seat and drinking from her own mug. Helga took this opportunity to look at the cleaner properly- she was in her mid-fifties, not much shorter than her own mother. Her hair was a light blonde, and her eyes were a bluish-green. Her coat, while it looked warm, seemed well worn, much like her boots, which were heavily scuffed, but still intact. "So, erm… who are you, exactly?"

"My name is Sarah. I currently work as the park keeper, but I'm not from around here." Her smile turned apologetic. "Sorry about knocking you in the water, by the way."

"Eh, forget about it. I wasn't really paying attention."

Sarah noticed that Helga, while she took another sip of cocoa, had started to frown, so she looked at her sympathetically. "Is something wrong?"

Helga gave a weak, emotionless laugh. "You don't care. I mean, you seem alright, but you don't know me." After a moment of silence, Helga saw Sarah giving a sort of pleading look. The young girl let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not exactly a kind person. I've never been good at showing people how I feel, so I tend to push people away. Bully them, I guess is the right way to put it. Yeah, it's not the best way to deal with it, but it was the only way I really knew. I didn't know kindness from anyone I knew for a long time. Well, almost anyone."

Sarah gently raised her eyebrows in curiosity. "Oh?"

"There's a boy in my class who, despite everything, still tried to be nice to me. He was the first person to show me real kindness."

"Really? Not even your parents?"

"Nope. Too busy caring for my sister, Olga. They're so invested in her success they don't even recognise me when I walk in the house."

"That doesn't sound like a happy home life."

"You're right about that. If it wasn't for Arnold, I probably wouldn't ever be happy." She glanced towards the fire. "Still, after today, I doubt he'd like to see me ever again. Maybe things would have been better if we'd never met, or if I was more like Olga. Heck, if I'd never been born, he'd probably be just fine." As Helga took another drink of her cocoa, she glanced back to Sarah, who was quietly laughing to herself. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "what's so funny?"

Sarah smirked. "You know, I've heard that from a lot of people in my lives, but never anyone your age."

Helga squinted, still confused. "Lives? Don't you mean life?"

Sarah settled down her cocoa. "Let's just say, I'm not exactly 'of this world'." Before Helga could ask more, Sarah stood up. "Put on that jumper and follow me. I need to show you something."

Helga, after watching Sarah step out of the shack, shrugged. She finished her cocoa, put her now dry socks back on under her still slightly wet boots, and threw on the jumper the man had left behind- it was way too big, but it was warm, so she didn't care- before following her outside. When she shut the shack door, she realised that something was different- the park was empty.

"Hey," she openly wondered, "where'd everyone go?"

"Well, Helga, this is Hillwood if you had never been born," Sarah bluntly explained, to which Helga scoffed.

"Yeah, and I'm queen of Nova Scotia. Criminy, I'm eleven, not two. They've probably all gone home."

Sarah laughed. "Oh, you'll see soon enough. Come on, we have a couple of stops to make." Helga followed her, not noticing that she could no longer feel the cold. As she followed her, she soon saw a giant super mall, six blocks in width and four storeys tall, right in the middle of her neighbourhood. Helga gasped as she saw the sign at the entrance- 'Scheck Mall'. "As you can see, this is where your neighbourhood used to be."

"I thought Arnold beat Scheck and saved the neighbourhood?"

"Correction- you AND Arnold did. Without you, or 'Deep Voice', Arnold never found the document, and so Scheck demolished the entire neighbourhood." She stepped inside, Helga in tow. As they moved through the busy crowd, Helga yelled at a guy who almost ran into her, but he didn't respond. "I wouldn't bother, no one but me can hear you." Sarah led Helga up the steps to the second floor, where they reached a shop that said, 'Bob's Beeper Emporium'. "As you can see, your father got his Beeper Emporium set up in the mall. However, due to the contract he signed, he didn't receive enough to afford a house, so he moved his belongings into the back office." She led Helga into the back, where Miriam was passed out on the couch, 'smoothie' in hand. "Not everything changed, as you can see."

"Go figure. So, where's miss perfect, Olga?"

"Well, without you, she didn't have much reason to keep coming back. Instead, she found a boyfriend, who she moved in with during college."

"Really?" Sarah gave a nod. "Huh. Never even realised I meant that much to her."

"Well, you did." She smiled, seeing that this was working. "I can tell you see how much impact you have on people's lives now." Helga shrugged, still uncertain. "There's one more stop, and I think that this will convince you. Now, this one's further away, but this isn't technically real, so we can just move there," she snapped her fingers, "like this."

Within an instant, they had arrived outside a large building. "Really? You couldn't just do that before?"

"It wasn't far enough to be worth it." Helga stared at her, deadpan. "Anyway, read the sign."

Rolling her eyes, Helga looked up and found herself confused. "'Hillwood Orphanage'? What are we doing here?"

"You'll see." They walked inside, and saw kids running around happily, freshly opened Christmas presents in their hands. "I believe we go right and…"

When they went through the doorway, Helga looked around. The room was well lit, with a Christmas tree standing tall and a fireplace flickering. When she saw who was sat by it, she gasped, covering her mouth in shock.

"No…" It was Arnold. He was sat, staring at the fireplace. Moving closer, she noticed his eyes lacked any of the positivity for life she had grown to love in him. His clothes were tattered, he looked tired, and his hat, the one he wore every day, was nowhere to be seen. Helga found tears coming from her eyes. "H-how? How could this happen?"

"When Scheck bulldozed the neighbourhood, his grandparents were deemed too old to look after him, so he was brought here, while they were put in a nursing home and ordered to keep away from him. His grandmother was put in a psychiatric ward after trying to escape, while his grandfather, depressed from the boredom he found, killed himself. Without you, Arnold also never went to San Lorenzo, where his parents would still be. As far as he knows, he has no family left. No one would adopt him because of-"

"His head shape?" Sarah nodded as Helga gulped. "Oh, Arnold. You deserve so much better than this. You deserve a home, and a life, and a family. You deserve to be able to go on all the amazing adventures you went on with me. You deserve…"

Sarah smiled warmly. "He deserves you."

Helga nodded, realising just how much she also needed him. "I can't let this happen. Without Arnold, I'm nothing, and it seems it would be the same the other way around. I'm glad I met him after all."

"That's all I've been waiting to hear." Snapping her fingers again, they returned to the shack. Helga blinked, looking around. She saw her coat, scarf, hat and gloves were still by the fire, probably dry.

"Wait a minute. So, what happens if I go outside now?"

"Well, everything goes back to normal." She handed the clothes to Helga, who started to put them back on. "Now that you know how important you are to those around you, all you have to do is show it to them."

"You're right. I owe Arnold an apology, I shouldn't have snapped at him like I did. I need him in my life, so badly."

"I know you do."

Sarah started to walk towards the exit, but Helga stopped her, asking, "just one thing. When you knocked me into the river… did you mean to do that?"

Sarah smirked, opening the door. "You caught on quick. Like I say, I've done this a lot in my lives."

Sarah walked out, and Helga chased after, still having questions about the whole 'lives' thing, but when she got outside, Sarah was gone, and everyone that was there before was back. Turning around, the shack disappeared, much to Helga's shock.

'What was in that cocoa? Boy, this'll be a fun story to tell tomorrow at school.' Her eyes widened. 'Arnold!' She ran out of the park, ignoring everyone who shouted at her that she almost ran into, until she finally reached the Boarding House. She had been there many times, but this was one of the few times she would actually knock. 'Well, here goes nothing.'

As the door opened, Arnold appeared, wide eyed at who was in front of him. "Helga?!"

"Hey, Arnold," she greeted, a little nervously. "Listen, Arnold there's something that I need to-"

She couldn't finish what she wanted to say, because he wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. She was initially shocked, but found herself enjoying it.

"I'm so glad you came, Helga," he whispered, a wide smile on his face.

"Y-Yeah… me too, Arnold," she whispered back, returning the hug. They held it for a few seconds, before Helga pulled back. "Look, Arnold. I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have snapped at you, when you were trying to help."

"It's okay, Helga. I overstepped my boundaries a little. I know you are capable of handling yourself."

"Darn straight." They both laughed at this. "So, do you forgive me, Football Head?"

He smirked. "Already have." She smiled, but a silence quickly fell between them. Neither were sure what to say after that. "Look, erm," he finally spoke up, "my mom is about to prepare dinner. Would you like to join us?"

She thought for a second- while she did want to go home and try to make peace with Olga after what she had been shown, she thought a meal sounded more appealing. Nodding, she followed him inside, holding his hand- 'something,' she mentally noted, 'I could get used to.'

 **HAPPY BOXING DAY! … do people even say that?**


End file.
